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--=====================_7389406==.ALT Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed This week I heard an episode of Stuart McLean's Vinyl Cafe. The opening lines of the story entitled "Springhill" caught my attention. The story begins in Big Narrows, Cape Breton, in (I think) 1958. A man hears and then sees a crow, and regards it as a harbinger of spring. Is this likely? I know that in my native Manitoba, crows are migratory, and it used to be the case that outside of Winnipeg, they were not seen in winter. My mother used to recall how when she was a girl growing up in Brandon, the sight of one was a sure sign of spring. This has been changing: The Birds of Manitoba (2003) says that crows are "uncommon but increasing in winter in the south", and they are "among the earliest spring migrants to return". It also notes that in the "last few decades , it has become more at home in cities and towns"... With the exception of the Winnipeg Count, most CBC's in Manitoba report crows only in single digits. But were crows ever so rare in winter in Cape Breton that they were regarded as a sign of spring? Tufts' Birds of Nova Scotia (1986) says only that they can be "uncommon to rare in interior wooded regions, especially in winter". Has this been changing in Nova Scotia, too? Patricia L. Chalmers Halifax --=====================_7389406==.ALT Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" <html> <body> <x-tab> </x-tab>This week I heard an episode of Stuart McLean's Vinyl Cafe. The opening lines of the story entitled "Springhill" caught my attention. The story begins in Big Narrows, Cape Breton, in (I think) 1958. A man hears and then sees a crow, and regards it as a harbinger of spring. Is this likely? <br><br> <x-tab> </x-tab>I know that in my native Manitoba, crows are migratory, and it used to be the case that outside of Winnipeg, they were not seen in winter. My mother used to recall how when she was a girl growing up in Brandon, the sight of one was a sure sign of spring. This has been changing: <u>The Birds of Manitoba </u>(2003) says that crows are "uncommon but increasing in winter in the south", and they are "among the earliest spring migrants to return". It also notes that in the "last few decades , it has become more at home in cities and towns"... With the exception of the Winnipeg Count, most CBC's in Manitoba report crows only in single digits.<br><br> <x-tab> </x-tab>But were crows ever so rare in winter in Cape Breton that they were regarded as a sign of spring? Tufts' <u>Birds of Nova Scotia</u> (1986) says only that they can be "uncommon to rare in interior wooded regions, especially in winter". Has this been changing in Nova Scotia, too?<br><br> <x-tab> </x-tab>Patricia L. Chalmers<br> <x-tab> </x-tab>Halifax<br> <br> </body> </html> --=====================_7389406==.ALT--
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